CONGRESS take note. The biggest Opium Economy needs funding until 2024 and protection for it by USA Forces.
AIN'T NO WAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan arrived for a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on Tuesday.
Excuse the language please, but there is no NICE way to say this.
Hamid Karzai has NATO 'by the balls.' He supports the ravages of the worst international criminals on the planet through an opium culture that has sustained them and damaged civilized people for decades if NOT centuries and it suits him just fine.
General McCrystal is making testimony and stating the draw down of USA forces will begin in July 2011 and that the Obama strategy is achievable, but, this IS NOT even a remote possibility to the outcome of the deployment of the new troops OR the continued presence of the current USA presence in Afghanistan.
How convenient for one of the most corrupt governments in the world to have harbored the terrorist network of September 11, 2001.
There is no counterinsurgency strategy that is going to work in these circumstances. A few well placed bombs to destroy the biggest global pain in the ass is more effective and far less expensive.
General Stanley McCrystal is one of if not the most dedicated soldier I have witnessed in the USA military. I believe that he believes he can practically turn Afghanistan around on a dime. But, it is time our most loyal General who dearly deserves our loyalty be brought home to allow Karzai and Afghanistan to wallow in their own swill.
US Commander in Afghanistan: Obama's Strategy Achievable (click here)
General Stanley McChrystal says he is confident the US now has both the right strategy and resources in Afghanistan for success. He says he believes he will know within a year whether the troop buildup is working....
I love this guy. I mean that sincerely. I think he is one of the finest Americans this country has ever witnessed. I also believe there comes a time when a President says enough is enough and save someone like General McCrystal for times when his heart isn't broke and his priorites and career aren't tarnished by the scumb of the Earth.
General McCrystal does not have a good Secretary of Defense and he has gotten dearly used to dealing with incompetents and it needs to end.
The United States House and Senate need to end funding to these wars of convenience for the Bush/Cheney Regime and bring our troops home now. There is also something heroic about the actions of the Late President Gerald Ford.
From the same article.
...But while civilian casualties continue to anger Afghan officials, Mr. Karzai’s comments on Tuesday highlighted just how much the Afghan government could be forced to rely on the United States and NATO countries for decades to come.
“For another 15 to 20 years, Afghanistan will not be able to sustain a force of that nature and capability with its own resources,” Mr. Karzai said during a news conference here with the secretary of defense, Robert M. Gates. He was referring to the number of Afghan forces needed to provide security for the entire country....
...En route to Kabul, Mr. Gates told reporters on his plane that he had already signed orders for the deployment of 17,000 of the additional forces, and that most would be in place in southern Afghanistan by the spring.
Included in the group are 1,500 Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., who will deploy later this month; another 6,200 Marines from Camp Lejeune, who will deploy in early spring; and a brigade combat team of some 3,400 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y., who will also deploy next spring to train Afghan security forces....